Piston-ring expander and contractor



O. lUHNSOlL PISTON RlNG- EXPANDER AND CONTRACTOR. APPLICATION HLE'D, mac. 3. 1919.

"1,379,021. P tented May 24, 1921.

' citizen of the United States,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ORVEY JOHNSON, OFF-MADISON, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNQR TO THE JOHNSON SPECIA LTY COMPANY, or MADISON, 'wrs'coNsIN;

To all whom it may concern:

- Be it known that'I, ORVEY JoHNsoN, a and resident of Madison, in the county of Dane and State of lVisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Piston-Ring EX- panders and Contractors; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,

and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in engine appliances, particularly in devices adapted for contracting and expanding engine piston rings. I

'Tothose familiar with the art, it is well known that it is comparatively difficult to assemble piston rings in the grooves of a piston and the piston in a cyllnder. For in stance when a piston ring is to. be placed around a piston,.it must first'be "expanded.

A primary object of my invention i's-to pro vide a simply constructed and quickly op crating device for procuring such necessary expansion of piston rings. H

Then again it ordinarily requires considerable manipulation to insert a piston provided with rings in its cylinder; Another primary object of the invention is therefore to provide a contracting means whereby the rings may be contracted and the piston more readily inserted in the cylinder.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of this character which is capable of being adjusted for various diameters of rings and to procure 'diflerent expansions or contractions of rings of the same size.

With these and other general objects in view, the. invention consists in the novel fea tures of construction, combinationandan rangement of parts which will be hereinafter particularly described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 denotes a plan view of an appliance constructed in accordance with my invention, showing its use as a ring expanding tool.

Fig. 2 is a similar view, the device being used as a ring contractor.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken upon the plane of the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4 is a detail vertical section on the plane of the line 44 of Fig. 1.

It is to be understood that various changes be made in the form and proportlons and in the general association of the several PISTON-RING EXPANDER AND CONTRACTOR.

Specification ofLetters Patent. 7 .Patented Blay 24, 1921. Applicati on filed December 3, 1919. Serial No. 342,108 I parts of the device without departing from or sacrificing any of the featuresthereof. Referring more particularly to the drawings, it will be noted that the'refere'nce character It, designates a piston ring of an ordinary design which is to be expanded or contracted through the medium of an expansile and retractile resilient collar or band 1, the

end portions 2 and 3 of whichare overlappedas clearly indicated in Figs. 1 and 2. In other words a strip of resilient material of requisite width and length is rolled transversely until. its end portions overlap, and when this resulting ring of material is increased or decreased in diameter suchend portions slidably engage each other.

To retain the end portions of the collar 1 i ngagem n wit ee h' e nd o guide the same during their sliding movement, tongues {land 5 are extended from the longitndinal edges of the endportion 3. From the severalfigures of the drawing it will be view of this registration and the 'factfthat the inner edges of the openings Beoincide with-the inner edge of the recess 7 the row of openings-8 is positioned parallel, and closely, to one longitudinal edge of the collar. t

' An expanding and. contracting device 9 is" adapted to be used for increasing or diminishing the diameter of the collar 1, and consists of a pair of levers 10 and 11 which are crossed intermediate their ends and pivoted together as at 12. This arrangement forms a jaw 13 anda handle portion 14 from the lever 10, and a jaw 15 and a handle portion 16 from the lever 11.

The jaw 13 has a pair of spaced hinge knuckles 16 between which a hinge knuckle 17 is pivoted.

The knuckle 17 has an attaching portion 18 extended'the'refrom and pivoted as at 19 to the end portion 3 of the collar 1 adjacent the outer end of the recess 7 By this arrangement the knuckle 17, and consequently the jaw 18 may be swung to either side of a transverse plane extending through the pivot 19.

The other jaw has a finger extending therefrom which is designed to .engage in any one of the several openings 8. This engagement may be procured with respect to those openings which are in registration with the recess 7, or with those disposed beyond the end of the portion 3 of the collar. If the invention is to be used as a piston ring expander, the device 9 is arranged with respect to the collar as shown in Fig. 1, the finger 20 of the jaw 15 being extended through the recess 7 and into engagement with the proper opening 8. lVith the parts thusly disposed it is seen that by moving the handle portions 14; and 16 together, a the collar will be increased in diameter, as for instance as illustrated in the dot and dash line of Fig. 1. 1

Various degrees of expansion are ob-v viously procured by the engagement of the finger 20 with the different openings 8.

On the other hand when the invention is to be used as a contracting device, the member 9 is rotated 180 on the pivot 19 with of the jaw 15 may nowreadily engage with either otthe openings 8 located outwardly of the end8. Movement of the handle portions 1 1 and 16 of the device 9 will now have the eflect of reducing the diameter of the collar as shown in the dot and dash line of Fig. 2.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing it will be evident that I have devised a very simple combination appliance which will be equally eficient as a contracting device or as an expanding device. Owing to its'simplicity and the few number of its parts, it

-may be inexpensively manufactured and easily operated. Various changesv may be made in the form and proportion of the several parts to permit the principle of the invention to be employed -in various arts,

slidably engaged, the outer such changes being within the contemplation 1 i J. I 4. 1. Z oi the inventer as dlsclosed by uhe iollowing claims.

ing its ends adapted to be overlapped, one

end portion having a plurality of openings arranged longitudinally of the collar, a pair of expanding and contracting handles, one being hinged and pivoted to one end portion of the collar, and afinger on the other handle lt'or selective cooperation with any of said openings.

2. A device of the class described comprising an expansile and-contractile collar having its end portions overlapped and end portion having a recess formed therein, there being a plurality of attaching means carried by the inner end portion and adapted to register with said recess when said end portions are slid one upon the other, and an expanding and contracting device having one part connected with the outer end portion of the collar and the other part adapted to be ex tended through said recess into engagement with any or" said attachlng means or with the attaching means positioned exteriorly of. respect to the collar 1 to POSltlOII the awsj 13 and 15 as shown in Fig. 2. The finger the recess.

3. A device of the class described com prising an expansile and contractile collar having its end portions overlapped and slidably engaged, the outer end portion having a recess formed therein, the inner end portion having a plurality of openings arranged longitudinally of the collar and adapted to register with said recess when the end p0rtions are slid one upon the other, and an expanding and contracting device comprising a pair of jaws, one being connected to the outer end portion of the collar and the other adapted to' extend through said recess to selectively enter any of said openings.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand at Milwaukee, in thecounty of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin.

onvnv JOHNSON. 

